Not that the US government would ever allow itself to be affected by such trivial issues, but aren't there any international laws/treaties on this?
International laws and treaties are more like suggestions than they are laws since there is no real governing body with power necessary to enforce them. Organizations like the UN, NATO, WTO, etc can come with all kinds of laws, but as we've seen with the nuclear situation in Iran, and intellectual property protections in China, they really can't do much unless the entire international community decides to try to force it on them. That being said international law is mostly based on the concept of comity, so like a poster said before, precedence matters.
Al Jazeera Fail. Or win, if you're not French. It's obviously a fake and joke, and not something Al Jazeera actually did.
Some of the initial airstrikes that kicked off the Iraq invasion in '03 were attempts to assassinate Saddam Hussein. The US bombed 1 or 2 specific buildings in Baghdad right at the start of the war based on intelligence reports that said Saddam was there (IIRC one of them missed him by about a half hour). I don't see how anyone can have an issue with trying to take out the Saddams and Qaddafis of the world directly but not with lighting up thousands of their conscripted grunts at a time.
Maybe I'm just drunk, but the situation in Libya should be of no concern compared to the political unrest going on in Yemen. The country is on the brink of erupting into a sectarian battle, and with a very strong presence of Al-Qaeda we can only imagine how the country will turn out. Why hasn't NATO intervened here as opposed to Libya? Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me like the western world has a lot more at stake in Yemen the they do Libya. Anyone care to weigh in?
Does Yemen supply oil to the US or any other UN nation? I'll say it again, and call me a cynical fuck, but it's not like the military interventions are being made for humanitarian reasons.
Besides oil, Yemen's in a very important position for Red Sea shipping. Perhaps NATO just figures that it's best to wait and see what happens, maybe take some time to prepare first?
They are listed as 37th in oil producing countries (CIA Factbook), and it's declining rapidly. I can't see their internal issues causing many economic problems for the US, or NATO as a whole. I also don't see them doing anything to affect any shipping. Of course, I'm just pulling this out of my ass, so please feel free to edumacate me on the situation.
Yemen is a serious hub for al-Qaeda activity. Yemen is a bit like Somalia in the sense that a few parties are fighting for control (there is an active civil war going on there right now, after all) but no one that would benefit the U.S. I think the U.S. is hesitant to engage because 1) can't invade everyone at once, and 2) no clear strategy about what we could do that would be beneficial anyway. Can't leave it as a lawless wasteland but can't put into power anyone who's there either. I'm not entirely educated about Yemen either, but I see it as one of those places we just kind of ignore, while doing our best to maintain an intelligence presence there.
Actually, JSOC has had special operations units in Yemen for some time now (likely elements of CAG, DEVGRU, 75th Rangers, 24th STS, and CIA). It's just not very widely published. The Washington Post had an article about it last year: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239.html?hpid=topnews" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews</a>
So it looks like Gaddafis guard has surrendered, his arms depot captured, and his sons have been arrested. Its only a matter of time before hes taken down or escapes into exile (which I doubt). Couldnt the Libyans come up with a better revolution name than "Mermaid Dawn"?
Al Jazeera television is reporting that Qadafi has surrendered to opposition forces. No one else is saying this, so it could be rebel misinformation. Treat a country like a testing ground for your psychotic social experiments for four decades, slaughter your own people for a half a year in an attempt to retain power, promise that you'll fight to the last drop of blood, and then surrender? A smarter man would put a bullet in his own head.
There was an old-school "Twilight Zone" episode about that. It dealt with a bearded dictator in an unnamed Latin-American country who strongly resembled a current dictator on a Carribean island just off of the coast of Florida. He was so paranoid about his constituents plotting against him that he shot himself. If only we were that lucky in real life. That episode is representative of the kind of satire you can't get away with these days, or else you will get sued. (probably with success) EDIT: Bolding
The rebels have now taken over Ghadaffi's compound. The footage on CNN is unreal. Thousands of people walking around the compound with AK-47's firing celebratory gunfire into the air. <a class="postlink" href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/08/20118234144136279.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://english.aljazeera.net/news/afric ... 36279.html</a> edit: I can't help but laugh watching these guys parade around with AK47's wearing pajama pants.